Artist: U-God
Album: The Keynote Speaker
Producers: Various
Release Date: July 23, 2013
Review: Maybe I've been a little kind on some of the least impressive Wu albums while writing this blog. In hindsight, I hope I haven't turned into The Fat Guy Who Cried Wolf since I didn't rip apart some of these CD's the way other critics did. I hope not, because today I'm making a serious statement that The Keynote Speaker is highly underrated and undervalued. Babygrande Records, GZA's label (responsible for this year's Keynote Speaker re-release) even have the whole album streaming on YouTube if you haven't checked it out yet. I may not put it as high as a Cuban Linx album or The Movement, but this is a damn good joint from U-God with only a couple stumbles near the beginning. It's easily his best since Golden Arms Redemption if not his best solo album ever. Here's what's up.
U-God's solo career has been troubled from the get-go. I've seen bloggers unfairly call his debut Golden Arms Redemption the worst Wu-Tang release ever, or rate it a 2 out of 10. After that came his actual worst release, the indefensible Mr. Xcitement - which stemmed partly from his brief departure from Wu-Tang and almost entire lack of involvement from any Wu staff on it. Even U-God himself expressed disappointment in Mr. Xcitement. I personally think he bounced back with some really cool tracks on Dopium, especially "Train Trussle" and "Wu-Tang." It was another four years before he brought us The Keynote Speaker, in the meantime keeping himself busy with quick appearances on other albums. Most notably, U-God appeared on the Wu-Tang/Revelations collaborations Chamber Music and Legendary Weapons and "Rivers of Blood" and "Six Directions of Boxing" from The Man with the Iron Fists.
Now back with his fourth solo release, Golden Arms opts for quick delivery on each song. The Keynote Speaker boasts 19 tracks (including the final two "bonus tracks") but only runs a total of 48 minutes. That means each song averages out to two minutes thirty - only one song on the disc sees the four-minute mark ("Fame" with Styles P). This will tie in a lot with my thoughts on the album overall, so I'll get back to it.
The title track kicks things off for two minutes of fury with bleating horns and a catchy hook. I like his rhyme "My nest is blooming, my heart is fuming / What you expect man? The God is human." It's a great way to start the album, as U-God tends to turn the focus on himself and talk about his triumphs as well as his troubles.
Next up is "Heads Up" with Jackpot and GZA. Jackpot holds his own, U-God delivers an admittedly hit-or-miss verse ("The way I hear you talking to me is irrelevant / My laser sharp speech makes me relevant" isn't his strongest line) and GZA drops some solid science poetry on us with lyrics like "Mic masters, hip-hop's hallmark / The Big Bang of rap and the center was all dark / Then came the spark and we began to rhyme / And shine light on the world in the form of art."
If I have one real beef with the album, it's the hook on "Fire." It's some seriously repetitive shit. Check it out:
"The God said to put the fire on it
The God said to put the fire on it
One match, we set the world on fire
One match, we set the world on fire
The God said to put the fire on it
The God said to put the fire on it
One match, we set the world on fire
One match, we set the world on fire."
We actually hear the line "One match, we set the world on fire" fourteen times in under three minutes. It's a bit too much. It reminds me of the hook on Beastie Boys' "3 the Hard Way" - "We gonna rock this motherfucker like three the hard way / We gonna rock this motherfucker like three the hard way / We gonna rock this motherfucker like three the hard way / Three the hard way, three the hard way." But once we get away from the hook, "Fire" is pretty good. Jackpot (aka Scotty Wotty) is back, having previously collaborated on "Stomp Da Roach" from Dopium. U-Godzilla comes back from his stumble on "Heads Up" with a respectable verse here, especially his opener "It's the art of war combat, every move is high tech / Human Terminator, nigga, plug me into SkyNet / Red bone, hot head, burnt down my projects / I turn sound into killing flying objects." It opens with a nice Terminator reference and closes with a throwable CD/ninja star image, not to mention it's got flow and timing. Method Man guests here and is really smooth - he doesn't spin his most brilliant lyrics but they bounce like Muhammad Ali and flow like water.
Moving on, "Fame" introduces (or reinforces what "Keynote Speaker" introduced) the exact brand of retro that U-God utilizes the rest of the album. It's a much lighter old sound compared to the usual soul sampling Wu-Tang does, its treble contrasting in tone with U-God's bass-filled vocals. The hook is a sample of someone singing the word "fame" and a bright Temptations-like string loop - it's a big departure from the gritty mid-'90s Wu but a good one nonetheless. It's a bit reminiscent of the chances Ghostface took on Apollo Kids.
"Skyscraper" repeats the retro vibe, this time trading in the strings for buzzing '70s/'80s synthesizers. Lyrically, the highlight is U-God's more wary side - "It's one of them nights, wish upon a star / That the hood might settle and peace may start." This is also good foreshadowing for the more vulnerable singer-songwriter attitude of the album's back half. In the meantime, "Heavyweight" is decent but my favorite line is "Roll the tour bus to the finest cities / Rock the whole Europe, touched the finest titties," which always makes me laugh. I know it's probably being sincere in its braggadocio, but the rhyme and Zilla's excitement come close to some ODB ridiculousness.
I've often wondered why some of the Wu albums put my favorite tracks up front while the back half suffers or treads water. This is definitely not the case here; After the halfway skit "Colossal Cosmos," U-God switches up his fame-riding crazy nights with more personal laments and worries lyrically while presenting unique retro sounds by the truckload. First up is "Stars," which sounds like it's been locked in a nightclub in Miami for 30 or 40 years. I love the spacey keyboard line and vocal harmony on the hook, with the simple optimism of "Reach for the stars!" Not only is "Stars" one of the catchiest tracks on the album, but it's hard to stop talking about it. The interlude is a pitch-raised sample of someone singing "Take me to the stars." This is as pop as pop gets but somehow it all works. Even U-God's lyrics are as happy and light-hearted as it gets. "Good time lovin's and some good laughs / Kicking your feet up, first class / Good kid on a good path." Just crazy. It leaves you wanting more, as it's in and out in well under three minutes. And this happens throughout much of the album, but they work great as quick visits into the mind of one of Wu-Tang's most low-profile members. I've heard Wu tracks that go on two minutes too long and you damn sure won't find them here. Every track drops the bomb and ducks out and not one overstays its welcome.
Then comes "Golden Arms," in which U-God looks back with noted sadness on the way his life used to be. I always respect a rapper showing that they made mistakes and have vulnerabilities. U-God says he "Got bread in the streets from the rawest addiction / Made a 180 turn with the Lord's conviction." In other words, when he was a kid he hustled some drug money in his neighborhood and even enabled the most hardcore of drug addicts, but he turned his life around and found remorse and repentance for his acts, partly with religion. This isn't the first time he's touched on that; even on Mr. Xcitement he has a pretty good verse or two about his own drug use and what it cost him.
I'm also really fond of "Room Keep Spinning." I think live acoustic guitar parts are underused in genres outside of rock, so on the rare occasion that I hear one (here and on Skinny Puppy's "Junkyard" for example) it adds some texture and variety to whichever album it's on. Not only is it wise instrumentation, but it's genuinely sad strumming as Golden Arms talks about his frustrations with his and his girlfriend's poor life choices. "She took my car, brung it back in three parts / Late night call to come to the ER" and "I done told her not to drink and drive / Now the judge slammed the hammer and she might do time" highlight her story. U-God's own shock, receiving a letter from his ex and learning he's a father, spins his own tale. "Got a letter from L.A., it was from my ex / Said she had my baby, ain't seen her yet [...] She said she can raise it all on her own / She said 'send me money and leave me alone / Stress is a killer' then she hung up the phone." It's clear that this is genuine worry, not bragging about himself or his current girlfriend, because the hook is all about how the room keeps spinning. Of course a spinning room is a fitting, if on-the-nose, metaphor often used for when you have an emotional shock and get dizzy or anxious.
Then there's "Get Mine." I'm amazed by this track. It's about as much a rap song as "16 Tons" is, only offering a few quick rhymes sporadically. The music is straight from a David Lynch movie, taking a dark turn on cool nightclub jazz, and U-God sings as much as he emcees. Sure, there are some rhymes and they're awesome and angry ("Life's full of drama, secrets and lies / If you get screwed in the end don't be surprised"), but the musical focus is very old-school. U-God's singing voice is like Leon Redbone on some parts and deep Barry White or Isaac Hayes crooning on others. And it does have that classic, finger-snapping, downtrodden "16 Tons" feel throughout. It's a brilliant way to break up the flow of the album (not that it was getting monotonous) and always a treat to look forward to when I listen. I could actually use a little more of it, since it clocks in at two minutes 39 seconds, but I think it's better for a song to leave us wanting more than take too long and become boring or uniform.
Inspectah Deck slaps us back to alertness on "Mt. Everest," which is followed by "Tranzform." Keeping with the diverse retro motif yet again, "Tranzform" uses electric guitar and tambourine and even has a hook similar to Jethro Tull's 1974 "Bungle in the Jungle." Compare U-God's hook - "Have you seen your friends turn to snakes? / Then tranzform into rats? / Well, running through the jungle / I can tell you all about that." to Tull's hook - "Let's bungle in the jungle / Well that's alright by me / I'm a tiger when I want love, but I'm a snake if we disagree." They both successfully use metaphors of people turning into different kinds of animals to serve their own purposes as we journey through the wild jungle of modern life. Even the album's proper closer, "Journey" (which features the legendary Kool Keith) boasts open-note '80s synths and clean pop-rock singing on the hook ("Here I go / I'm on my way...").
Legacy: Somehow, The Keynote Speaker received really mixed reviews. If we translate reviewers' scoring systems to a "one-to-10" scale, it mostly scored between a five and a 6.5. This is a case where I agree with some of the criticisms and disagree with others. Some reviews claimed the album lacked cohesion of any kind, and I can't see that. The liner note is a classic ghetto blaster and Keynote Speaker revels in various old-school inspirations from the '70s and '80s from front to back, which I find pretty cohesive. As I mentioned, the almost-humorously white sounds of tracks like "Stars" and "Golden Arms" as well as the light-headed spacey vibes of "Fame" and "Journey" take us through a comprehensive trip of yesteryear while providing plenty of enjoyable modern hip-hop sewn together with them ("Keynote Speaker," "Zilla" etc). I'll be the first to admit that some of U-God's verses aren't his strongest ("Heads Up" and "Heavyweight" don't do much for me), and that would bump it down a few points if I scored these reviews. However, this is as easy to listen to musically as anything in recent memory and a lot of the verses are really cool. I heard him say that with Keynote Speaker, "this'll either put my in your top five emcees or your top five underrated," and I definitely agree with the second part. U-God may not have Method Man's flow or GZA's vocabulary, but he's got a voice and plenty of sincere stories to tell if you'll listen. Do yourself a favor and take the time to do so.
Recommended Tracks: Keynote Speaker, Stars, Room Keep Spinning, Get Mine.
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